Minutiae & Other Frivolities

Online Literature

An ongoing project from Windhaven Press to present "mindscapes" of literature
on the Web.

The first project: "The
Outsider", by H. P. Lovecraft, is one of the Victorian horror writer's
best short stories. Presented here with a soundscape and illustrations
to guide the reader through the experience.

Specially posted for Halloween 1997

Virtual Places

One of the best time-sinks on the Web!

Chat realtime with other people who have this software, using avatars
as graphical representations. The software integrates with a Web browser
(warning: you'll need MSIE installed on your machine, even if you choose
Netscape as your browser of choice), then you can travel around the Web
conversing with others who are in the same virtual community. You can even
take "tours" with other avatars, conversing the whole way as you paint
the Web red.

The program is licensed by a number of companies right now, and all
the communities are separate, but can be reached by changing the "community
server" option in your VP menu. All 2.1 servers use the same software.

Visit Editrix's Sanctuary
page, a quiet place I created for people to congregate, with chat rooms
set up with ambient music embedded. The Literary Salon has been updated
for VP ver. 2.1, and I may start up some author chats again if it tickles
my fancy. Find us there late at night in the abbey crypt.

Visit DaVinci's
Exile, a community of VP literatti on the Excite VP server. We have
built it ourselves since 1997, and have our own bulletin board and even
our own birthday card service. Check out all the links from the main Exile
page!

Server address in VP: talk.excite.comThis is a 6,000+ member community most evenings as of mid-1998, and
still growing. The policy of free speech is mostly obeyed, which leads
to some amount of anarchy from the kids and adults-who-act-like-kids. The
Ignore button is sometimes a handy thing to have. All in all, a great group
of people and a fun place to be. There is a schedule of regular chat events,
including literary chats, posted on the Talk
home page - check it out.

Photo Album

An old-fashioned photo album
of Windhaven Press, the owners, the cats, and whatever else strikes my
fancy. Have fun perusing.

And a family photo taken
in 1913 of four generations of Hanger men, from eastern Washington
State. If anyone has further information about this branch of the Hangers,
I'd love to hear from you. There is very little recorded, and the family
record-keepers disappearing fast in this generation.

The Weaving Draft Project

A Call For Fiber Artists on the Web

I would like to hear from other weavers on the Web who might be interested
in a round-robin of draft patterns. I will post them here and begin a collection
of favorite original drafts donated from all over the Internet world.
So far I have heard from a number of weavers, but haven't had any drafts
sent to add to the page. Come on, folks! If you would like to send them
by snail mail and have me post them, that can also be arranged. Let's get
some participation going!

Publishing Credits

Available September 2003 from Marlowe Publishing; in bookstores everywhere.

I was asked to write a "First Year" guide by the editor of the series, who had been looking for a professional writer who was intimately familiar with this autoimmune disease. Having been diagnosed with lupus-related syndromes in the 1990s, I felt obliged to try to help those looking for information about this all-too common disease, which carries a cloud of mystery and misdiagnosis. One in every ten people know someone with lupus—do you?

I was the developmental editor/writer/researcher for this project for
Larry Chase, and can boast that this is a rather good book. My name is
not on the cover, but will appear on the inside title page and may
be listed on the various cataloged sites and reviews due to the substantial
contributions I made to its development and content, depending on politics
and the weather.

Nevertheless, a major ghost-development/writing project for myself,
and one that I am proud of completing.

from Penguin USA can be ordered or found in bookstores everywhere. I was
the research associate and consulting editor for this series (i.e., I researched,
wrote, and edited most of the footnotes with Leonard Wolf), and wrote the
backmatter for many of them.

I highly reccomend these as books everyone should have in their
home library. Classics with understandable, clear annotations and good
references and bibliographies. The Phantom is a very good
translation, truer to the original French by Leroux than anything I've
ever seen, including Leroux's rather unique usage of the present tense
and italics in a past-tense narrative in order to bring a sort of cinematic
quality to the story. Like scenic closeups.

Alexandria Digital Literature

Where you can find all the best books you haven't read ... yet

This is a project with which I am involved, and I can recommend more highly
than any other online publishing/book venture. The online digital Librarian
use "collaborative filtering" technology to recommend books and stories
to you based on your personal tastes - you may find the experience a bit
spooky, as if the Web engine is "psychic."

Come meet the Librarian, tell her your tastes in books and stories,
and see for yourself: www.alexlit.com.

Alexandria Digital Literature is contracting with authors to put their
hard-to-get stories in their digital library, so you can buy them electronically,
and download them to read on your screen or laptop, on your PDA, or print
out and read that way. These stories are for sale in the Marketplace, and
they add new ones every week.

Oh, and the best thing about it? The recommendations are free.

Hospice

Working with the Manchester (NH) VNA/Hospice is close to my heart
and one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. Any of the sites listed
above are good place to start your journey, if you would like to know more
about hospices in general--all hospice programs are a little different,
but all are based on the same ideas and general programs. Check out your
local if you're interested, and take their volunteer course. You will find
that we can learn more from those who are dying, and their families, than
you ever dreamed. And give more than you ever dreamed.

Coffee

One of my favorite subjects, and a not-so-secret passion of mine: good
coffee. I live in a Starbucks-less zone of the country, and so have to
mail order my addictions (my husband refers to my habit of taking coffee
catalogs to bed as my reading "coffee porn").

One source of happiness I've found is in communicating with other caffeine
addicts on Usenet: ALT.COFFEE being the best of the newsgroups I've encountered
so far, although occasionally some of the other groups rise from their
caffeine-induced manias to put in some good points on coffee creation and
consumption.

Some Other Places to Visit

Lotech's page - which is still being peripetetic. Links when it
arrives. When it does, hang onto your hats. He's good. Been too long since
he's been on the Net, dang it.

SFF- Net has more pages of both
authors and editors in science fiction. They also have some very good links
to related information.

If you are an aspiring writer or artist in the science fiction/fantasy
field, or just a fan, this is the place to go. Be seen. See others (well,
read them). Hang out. Get tips from pros. This is my free advice on starting
in this field - and a serious tip.